Understanding Cognitive Biases for Better CX

Bias #3: Goal gradient effect

The psychology around goal gradient effect says that as we approach a goal, we work harder to reach it.

This is why a customer loyalty program is a great motivator. Your customer data platform is the perfect tool to help your company create an effective customer loyalty program. If you have a points-based rewards program and encourage customers to reach the next ‘level’ while also giving them some points to begin with, they will want to progress quickly.

Figure 3: Prefilled loyalty card

There are two strategies that make sense for your team here.  

Show your customers the progress they’re making and that the next tier is close. You can show customer progress on the payment page, in personalized emails, on receipts, or even as an incentive for new customers to sign up.

This is all very simple with a quality customer data platform. A personalized website banner on the payment page, a monthly email with a loyalty program status update, or one of the many other marketing automation features that a customer data platform offers would be a great option to help showcase loyalty program progress.

As they get closer to the next goal, encourage them. You can send another personalized message showing how close they are, which can motivate their next purchase. Be aware that after your customer reaches a level, their motivation may wane. This is normal, and your team can counter this tendency by offering other incentives to keep the engagement strong and steadily improve overall customer lifetime value.

Conclusion

If you already have a customer data platform, it is obvious that your goal is to provide outstanding customer experience in all aspects of your business.

Understanding these three cognitive biases will help you make better use of your customer-centric martech, such as a customer data platform, and will ensure that your company is doing all it can to serve customers at the highest level possible. The concepts of social proof, choice overload, and goal gradient effect are each very important contributing factors to the bigger picture of progressing consumers along the customer lifecycle.